Which Dinghy

[colemj]

Likewise, a bow locker is one of our must-have features.

Bow lockers don't add appreciable weight to a dinghy. What is being confused here is that bow locker models are almost always double-floor models. It is the full double floor that adds the extra weight over the single-floor, non-locker models.

I fully agree with your bit about learning the hard way. While popularity doesn't always translate into best (movies and music are good examples), when it comes to dinghies, this is generally true.

Mark

[Muckle Flugga]

Originally Posted by colemj

Likewise, a bow locker is one of our must-have features.

Bow lockers don't add appreciable weight to a dinghy. What is being confused here is that bow locker models are almost always double-floor models. It is the full double floor that adds the extra weight over the single-floor, non-locker models.

...

Mark

Further it helps to keep weight forward in the hull. Great for assisting fast planing. Weight forward is not actually a bad thing.

[colemj]

Originally Posted by Muckle Flugga

Further it helps to keep weight forward in the hull. Great for assisting fast planing. Weight forward is not actually a bad thing.

If you mean that bow lockers keep weight forward due to containing the stored weight within them (fuel tank, anchor, etc), then I agree. If you mean that the locker itself adds significant weight forward, then I disagree. At most, the bit of fiberglass or aluminum used in a bow locker is only a few pounds.

Mark

[Muckle Flugga]

Originally Posted by colemj

If you mean that bow lockers keep weight forward due to containing the stored weight within them (fuel tank, anchor, etc), then I agree. If you mean that the locker itself adds significant weight forward, then I disagree. At most, the bit of fiberglass or aluminum used in a bow locker is only a few pounds.

Mark

The former. Stuff stored inside. Locker structure not significant.

[dohenyboy]

I had a 13' caribe and it was heavy and a huge hassle. I stay pretty much in one place and i like the Trinka 10 I got. I just row it.

I also got his one for free.


Why can't things remain where i carelessly left them?

[cohort]

I can tell you what NOT to buy. An Aakron inflatable. I had one that fell apart in the storage bag while on the boat. Their customer service told me that I shouldn't store their dinghy in a bag in a tropical environment (Tampa). Terrible product and terrible customer service.

Find a nice used brand name RIB. I have an 11ft Avon that is over 10 years old and still going strong. With dinghys you tend to get what you pay for.

[RELENTLESS 1]

Trying to make the wise decision here based on what has been said.
We are looking at buying a Cat 45-50' in the next year or so. We spent a month in S. Pac. cruising with friends on their mono and we anchored in these awesome out of the way atolls/lagoons and I would have sold an appendage to have had a Laser or Lido 14 to sail in 15 Kt. trades and flat water.
So, we intend to buy in FL do the ICW to acclimate and work out kinks then head to Carib. Is the Walker bay (I think tubes are important for snorkeling etc.) sufficient given all of the other duties required of a dink? Are there any other options?
thanks.

[JPA Cate]

My recommendation would be to buy the least expensive hard dinghy and maybe one that sails, too, that you can store, and drive it with the used engine you propose. Should it not turn out to be what you want, later on, then change it. If it is satisfactory, you shall have saved $$ you'd rather spend on textbooks for the kids, and be able to dinghy sail all round the anchorage at will.

For us, it was different. The main advice we received was to get the largest inflatable you could store, and the largest motor to drive it that you could store. "It was a 10 yr. old hypalon dinghy (from the days when French ladies did the gluing for Zodiac). It had a 15 hp Johnson that came with it. We managed with it. Used it and its planing ability to explore offshore dive sites, leaving the big boat anchored where it was safe. Also, it could carry a month's worth of laundry and groceries. Another benefit was that it was big enough and powerful enough to go and rescue a dinghy sailor in distress, and countless other little dinghies whose toy motors quit at embarrassing moments. It worked well in our usage and area. And I'm firmly in the RIB camp now.

It is just that you could spend that potential dinghy money at any time, and after you've figured out through experience your usage and things you'd like to change makes sense to me. So go small, go now, and re-evaluate as time and circumstances move you.

If you have 2 kids, having "two cars", a small inflatable as well as a sailing dinghy would broaden all of youse's (sorry for the bad grammar) horizons.

Cheers,

Ann